Spiritual Gifts
Keys to Ministry
The New Testament presents spiritual gifts as operational tools
for ministry in the church. The Holy Spirit assigns a gift or a mixture
of gifts to individual Christians. Passages in Romans, 1 Corinthians,
Ephesians, and 1 Peter describe or allude to twenty-seven spiritual
gifts. The Bible does not give a specific definition of a spiritual gift;
it illustrates how these gifts function.
The set of spiritual gifts assigned an individual by the Holy Spirit
constitutes the framework for that person's lifelong primary ministry
in the church. The degree to which Christians put their spiritual gifts
to work for the Lord depends on their commitment to discipleship
and response to the Lord's call.
Spiritual gifts may or may not match natural inherited talents,
abilities developed through education for a profession, or job skills
developed in the workplace. Sometimes the Holy Spirit assigns gifts
that match a person's personality profile and sometimes not. It all
depends on what ministry the Holy Spirit wants each to do.
Seventh-day Adventists believe that the spiritual gifts manifested
in the early Christian church still function in today's church.
Fundamental Belief No. 16
states: "God bestows upon all mem-
bers of His church in every age spiritual gifts which each member is
to employ in loving ministry for the common good of the church and
of humanity. Given by the agency of the Holy Spirit, who apportions
to each member as He wills, the gifts provide all abilities and minis-
tries needed by the church to fulfill its divinely ordained functions.
According to the Scriptures, these gifts include such ministries as
faith, healing, prophecy, proclamation, teaching, administration, rec-
onciliation, compassion, and self-sacrificing service and charity for
the help and encouragement of people. Some members are called of
God and endowed by the Spirit for functions recognized by the
church in pastoral, evangelistic, apostolic, and teaching ministries
particularly needed to equip the members for service, to build up the
church to spiritual maturity, and to foster unity of the faith and
knowledge of God. When members employ these spiritual gifts as
faithful stewards of God's varied grace, the church is protected from
the destructive influence of false doctrine, grows with a growth that
is from God, and is built up in faith and
love."—Seventh-day Advent-
ist Yearbook,
1995, pp. 6, 7.
These lessons consider the concept of spiritual gifts, examine
each gift mentioned in the New Testament, and guide students in
identifying and developing their gifts. The lessons also indicate how
a local church can organize around the mixture of spiritual gifts
found in its midst.
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